Hotel Transylvania - Wedding Mistakes
by MetaLatias
Summary: Dracula's and Ericka's wedding plans get interrupted by an angry mob of protestors accusing Dracula of controlling the Captain.
1. Chapter 1 - Planning

**Chapter 1: Planning**

Yes!

Ericka said yes to his proposal!

Now, after a short celebration and congratulations from friends and family that had not-so-subtly eavesdropped on their private time on the roof, it was time for one of Drac's favorite parts about having a big party: The planning.

Ericka agreed to have their wedding on the anniversary of the cruise on which they'd first met and zinged. There were suggestions from Wayne, Griffin and Vlad to have the wedding on another cruise with Ericka's ship, but the couple declined for various reasons.

One thing they couldn't decline however was to let Johnathan take care of the music, especially since he literally threw himself at Drac to eagerly ask for the job.

The planning was relatively slow-going for the two hotel managers. While Dracula had already managed countless weddings for monsters in his Hotel, Ericka had so far only planned cruise events and murder attempts, she had never even attended a wedding before. Of course the vampire could have simply taken all the parts Ericka failed to consider into his own hands, but he wanted to make sure that she got at least as much of a say in what their wedding should be like as he did, so he took his time to talk about every little detail with his bride-to-be before making any decisions.

While the two managers kept busy with their planning, Mavis took care of keeping the hotel in order, which was simple with only the regulars and a handful of tourists –both monster and human- visiting at the moment. She was mostly just standing at the reception for a couple hours, waiting for guests to ask for something or new ones to arrive, so it was no problem for her husband to come join her while the lobby was as good as empty.

"Hey Mavis, how's it going?"  
"Hey Johnny. Slow.. Even the zombies are starting to fall asleep with such little to do", she emphasized this by gesturing over to a zombie that had just fallen over.

"Heh, don't get to see the place this empty often. Bet that'll change in a flash once your dad sends out the wedding invites though."

"Obviously." Mavis knew her dad was a big deal to almost every monster for more than just building the hotel, so the news of him getting married again would cause the guest numbers to skyrocket. Good thing Hotel Transylvania was built specifically to house as many monsters as possible.

"Anyways", continued Johnny, "it wouldn't exactly be date night, but I suppose if you got nothing to do but stand here right now we could spend some time together. I can go get us some snacks if you like."

"Sounds better than doing nothing", she agreed with a little laugh, "but what about Dennis?"  
"Don't worry, he, Winnie and Tinkles are playing with Frank and the guys. They'll be fine. Do you know how far Count and Captain are with their planning? I still need their approval on the playlist I put together for the big day."

"Not a clue, I haven't seen them since early evening. I think they're still trying to.. balance the traditional bat-theme with a sea-theme for the decorations or something, unless they've managed to move onto the catering part by now…"

"Yeesh, I'm kinda glad now your dad did so much for our wedding, I think my head would've exploded if I had to come up with all of that stuff"

"It's not that hard, as long as you're organized."  
"Which you know I am not."  
"Well, your playlist better be or else my dad's gonna flip."  
"I'm not worried about that, I only picked the best of the best from my Wedding DJ folder!", Johnny proclaimed proudly.

Mavis snickered, "I bet. How about you go get us those snacks and we'll watch a movie on the computer? We can even check your playlist if you want to make sure one more time before showing my dad."

"Sounds great" And with that Johnny left her alone again.

Meanwhile, in a smaller room way up in the higher hotel floors, Abraham Van Helsing was pacing, or rather rolling around in circles on his little robotic wheels.

Sure, he had 'made peace' with the monsters, he had paid them back and was now even living with them in this hotel. A hotel which Dracula had built over a century ago to protect the monsters from people like him, a hotel for Dracula himself to hide away so he'd never find him!

Yes, he had 'made peace', had agreed to 'see monsters as equals', but several lifetimes of hate aren't forgotten that easily, not simply because Dracula had saved him from falling to his demise. Dracula had simply proven once more just how superior he feels, he chose to torment Abraham by taking his one and only great granddaughter and making him live to watch as Dracula pulls her deeper and deeper under his spell and monsters roam free to mingle with and destroy the humans!

He had tried to kill them both, when he heard his once monster-hating Ericka say that she 'zinged', he knew it must have been a spell! He knew his little girl, he knew that she, just like him, would have preferred to die over becoming the evil vampire's puppet, especially if it meant ridding the world of that monster alongside her.

He knows it's a spell. He knows Dracula's powers. He learned that this so called 'zing' is supposedly 'love at first sight'. He knows what Dracula can do if you look him in the eyes. What these monsters call 'zing' he knows is actually hypnosis.

That would also explain why that Johnathan is staying around these monsters. Heck, they even managed to make it so that poor young man would father a new vampire spawn! A spawn that would probably someday feast on its own father, no matter how innocent it may appear at the moment.

Abraham was sure of it, these monsters needed to be stopped, before the entire globe was run over by little monster-human-hybrids!  
Before his own great granddaughter would have to bear Dracula's spawn. No! Even before they wed! Dracula needed to be stopped.

But how? He couldn't just sneak up on the Count and stake him in his sleep… He tried, actually, but Dracula, the sly dog, had woken in time to catch him and Abraham had to awkwardly play it of as a joke for old times' sake.

Even if he managed to get the jump on the vampire and kill him, everyone would immediately know it was him. Someone else had to do it and they would have to know that it was someone else.

How best to kill a vampire without doing it yourself and while having witnesses?

…

Of course.

That's it.

The perfect plan.


	2. Chapter 2 - Everybody Loves Dracula

**Chapter 2: Everybody Loves Dracula**

The following night Drac and Ericka decided to write all the wedding invitations.

Or rather the following two nights. Ericka gawked at the enormous list of monsters Dracula wanted to include. How was it even possible for so many monsters to exist? How did Dracula seemingly know ALL of them? She only ever had her great grandfather, hardly ever even getting to make any friends while she was living on the ship, she didn't even have any friends that she could invite now. Which was probably for the best seeing just how many invitations they already had to write.

The Counts' friends conveniently flunked out of helping after the first night, actually preferring to take on babysitting Dennis and the pups. Though at least Mavis and Johnathan stuck around to help enveloping and addressing the cards. Mavis enveloping and addressing the invitations while Johnny glued the envelopes shut until his tongue got numb.

"Johnny", Mavis sighed, watching her husband using his already dried up tongue to glue another envelope shut, "I told you you don't have to glue them, just use the wax seal."

"Ouh ihggim ehm if fe mofb emborbemb bahb! Ibf ghoff, buhb fuhm!", the redhead tried to get out with his by now pretty much useless tongue.

Dracula sighed, "I can't understand even a single thing coming out of your mouth right now. Stop. Licking. The. Envelopes! Before your tongue falls off.."

Ericka could only snicker as Johnny attempted another garbled retort that no one could make out. It was a lot of fun to spend some family time with Dracula, his daughter and his son in law, even if her hand was cramping up from all the writing.

"Perhaps we should take a small break, relax for a bit", she suggested, flexing her hand before nodding her head towards Johnathan, "get something to drink?"

With an approving garble, Johnny jumped up from where he'd been sitting on the floor, already halfway to the door when he somehow managed to convey the question of 'Mavis, do you want anything?'.

Mavis, surprised herself that she was able to understand the garble this time, just shook her head, "I'm fine, I'll take over for you until you're back", picking up some red wax and the seal stamp to emphasize that she was not going to use her tongue.

Ericka followed the young man out the door, only stopping for a moment to tell her fiancé she'd be back shortly.

"It's alright, take your time. We wouldn't want you to need a cast for that hand by the time of the wedding"

Both vampires knew very well that humans, while not exactly fragile, weren't nearly as resilient as them, so neither had a problem with continuing their work while their zings took a break.

As a bonus they now had some father-daughter-time alone.

"So..", Mavis began, "Ericka's actually ok with living at the hotel, huh?"

"Oh yes, she's gotten used to the building and the many monsters around quite quickly. Maybe because it's not quite so different from how it was on the ship."

"That's great", Mavis' smile widened, "That means you can both live here together, right?"  
At this her dad actually stopped writing on the cards in front of him and turned to face the younger vampire, "Mavy, are you still worried that I might leave?"

The smile faded and Mavis shrugged, looking down at her hands while fiddling with the stamp, "I mean… I know you said you'd never live on a boat, but if Ericka wasn't comfortable here… I thought you'd-"

"Whoa, Mavy, hold on", he cut her off, getting up out of his seat to come over sit beside her, "That's only half of the promise I made."  
She stopped fiddling and looked up at his face. Right, there was more.

"I promised that nothing could ever take me away from you and I mean it. I'm afraid you're going to be stuck with your old man for eternity, my little voodoo doll, no matter what", he added that bit with a cheerful smile, lightly grabbing Mavis by the shoulders before pulling her into a hug.

This put an even more sincere smile on her face and she let out a small laugh, trying to push Drac away, "As long as my old man doesn't literally stay stuck to me."

Drac didn't budge, keeping his arms locked around Mavis and joking with fake concern, "Uh oh, I believe we've gotten covered in the envelope glue from Johnny's spit! We'll be stuck together now, forever! Help, someone help! Haha, I cannot stop hugging my daughter!"

Mavis couldn't help but laugh, "Dad! Ok, that's enough!"

Finally he let her push him away, laughing with her as she did so.

Once they'd both regained their calm, Dracula spoke again, "You know I'm serious, Mavis. Don't ever forget that part of my promise, it is way more important than me not wanting to live on a boat."

Mavis replied with a smile and a nod.

They had just finished writing and enveloping all the invitations by the time the sun came up, all four tired out and ready to lie down.

While Mavis and Johnny went to collect Dennis and Tinkles, Drac and Ericka headed straight for their own room, which was actually Dracula's room, but with an added bed in it for Ericka.

The woman and the vampire were still debating over sleeping conditions, whether they should get a couple-coffin or if Dracula should try getting used to sleeping in an actual bed, but they both agreed that this debate had time until after the wedding. For now neither of them were bothered about sleeping alone, it's what they were used to anyways and they could still snuggle any time while awake.

As soon as they got ready to sleep they said their sweet nightmares to each other, shared a casual but loving kiss and got into their respective bed or coffin.

…

"Sir! SIR!"

Dracula groaned as he was rudely awoken by a suit of armor storming into his room. He pushed open the lid of his coffin and sat up, not waiting to see whether the guard was going to do that himself or leave him alone. Already he could see that the loud lump of metal had woken Ericka as well.

"What, what is it?", he asked, annoyed as he gave a quick glance to the time on his phone, "It's the middle of the day, why are you bothering me at such a time?"

"My deepest apologies, sir, but there is a huge problem! You need to see the News!"

"The News?"


	3. Chapter 3 - Or not

**Chapter 3: Or not**

"-in Transylvania. A huge group of protestors has come together to speak up against monsters. While their individual messages vary vastly, going from 'mind-control is rape' to 'mommys against mummies', a majority of their outrage appears to be directed at the superpowered vampires, namely the famous Count Dracula. The movement apparently came together when a couple smaller anti-monster, anti-vampire and feminist groups started receiving supposed proof that Count Dracula was actually controlling the mind of younger Cruise Captain, Ericka Van Helsing and was currently planning on making the young woman his bride while suppressing her free will. This caused outrage in the groups like wildfire and they soon grew in numbers and came together, planning to have a protest march from small town Sighisoara to the Hotel Transylvania in less than five hours from now, which makes this one of the fastest protests we have ever seen, having been put together within just two days. We will follow the protest on its march and report back about its development. Now back to-"

Oh no.

Drac couldn't believe it. He could see and hear the 'protestors' in the background of the news report. Sure they were carrying mostly self-made sign-posts rather than torches and pitchforks, but he knew an angry mob of humans when he saw one and this huge mob was going to head straight for his hotel before nightfall!

He thanked slow business that the hotel wasn't stuffed with monsters for a potential panic at the moment, but even so there were still too many people, both monster and human, at the hotel that he cared about. He couldn't risk confronting the mob here where they could start to get violent, where they could potentially threaten his family. What if one of them did decide to bring a torch? Frank would freak out and cause panic on both sides, resulting in dangerous chaos!

The march starts in a few hours in Sighisoara, the town with the airport where he'd gone all those years ago to get Johnny back for Mavis. He'll have to face the protestors there, before they can even get close to the hotel.

"Drac?", Ericka tried to pull him out of his thoughts. She wasn't quite as shocked about this development as he looked. Having grown up learning about monsters, their abilities and to hate them, Ericka could see how they might think that she's being controlled by the vampire, she just didn't know how to prove that that wasn't the case. "What're we going to do?.."

Dracula thought about this. Considering to go face the mob on his own without alarming anyone in the hotel that didn't know what was going on yet. But facing such an enormous crowd that decided to hate him, while out in broad daylight was simply stupid, even if they weren't carrying any weapons, how would he get them to even listen to him? But if he was accompanied by a human advocate or two…

Yeah, he'll have to inform them…

"We tell the others."

Once they had woken and brought together Mavis, Johnny and Drac's "Drac Pack" friends, Ericka and Dracula told them everything they'd learned about the protestors.

"Oh DANG!", exclaimed Johnny, checking his phone for more info on the protest, "Their numbers rival the visitors of the annual Monster Festival! The town's practically stuffed by now!"

"I will go talk to them and calm them down before they can get to the hotel", Drac's plan didn't find any approval from the other monsters.

"Are you nuts?!", cried Murray, "That's crazy, you're the guy they hate here! If you go out to them, it'd be like.. like.."

"Like waving a red flag in front of a bull!", Griffin filled in.

"Not to mention that it's still daylight out. What're you gonna do if it comes to a fight or fly situation?", Wayne pointed out.

Frank was meanwhile already thinking about accompanying Drac.. if he can,"Uuughh, I can't do mobs, I don't handle them well. Crowds I've got no problem with, but mobs? Oh no no no, I can't, I.. th-they don't got any torches, do they?" He leaned over to look at Johnny's phone, hoping to find some reassurement.

"Guys, GUYS, calm down! I won't be going alone, but I'm not asking any of you to come. I believe bringing along any other monsters would only edge those humans on… so instead I would like for Ericka and Johnny to come with me, if that is alright with you."

"Hey, yeah!", the redhead jumped out of his seat to demonstrate some of his 'Bruce Lee moves', "We'll be like your bodyguards!"

"I would've said more like advocates", corrected Dracula, "The last thing we want is to start a fight."

"Of course, I just meant in case one of the protestors tries to start trouble."

"Do we have a plan for talking to them? Or are we just going in blind, trying to tell them you're not as scary as you're made out to be", asked Ericka, stepping up next to Drac.

"We'll have to show them that I am not controlling you.. Although I am not sure how to prove this to them myself…"

"Well", Johnny started, checking his phone again, "The march is supposed to start in a little over three hours and getting to Sighisoara takes around 20 minutes by hearse so we should have about 2 hours to prepare."

"Isn't that more like.. two and a half?", asked Murray.

Johnny simply responded with, "Eh, I always like to plan some buffer into my trips, just in case."

"Buffer for what?", the mummy continued to question, the other monsters already getting visibly annoyed while Johnny thought of a couple examples to count down on his fingers.

"Well…"

Mavis stopped listening. She hadn't said anything so far and hardly looked up from her phone where she was watching a live feed from the protest group on mute while listening to her dad's plan.

Watching the protestors and knowing her father wanted to confront them sent a cold feeling of dread through her.

There were so many different people with different signs and messages…

The livestream showed some of the signs clear enough to read and see the images some had added to their message.

There were a few simple signs or lines based on internet memes that Mavis was able to recognize thanks to Johnny, like "Mind control? In OUR WOMEN? It's more likely than you think" or a photoshopped picture of Drac that read "One does not simply zing twice", but there were other signs that were more serious and a few were even straight out disturbing.

One sign had Ericka depicted as the Statue Of Liberty, with the freedom torch being replaced by a stake with a bat impaled on it, it read "Free Ericka Van Helsing". Another was a Wikipedia print that pointed out that 'Dracula' derived from the Romanian word 'drac', meaning 'devil'.. which to humans was generally a bad sign. Many more signs showed screenshots or quotes from various vampire movies or stories, all adding up to the same message that Dracula was an evil superpowered creature who would take women for himself to woo, rape and kill them. It was honestly disgusting to see how some humans would actually view her father this way..

But the part in the video that really settled the dread deep in her soul was when she spotted a pair of police officers trying with some difficulty to confiscate about three crates filled with stakes and garlic from a smaller group of protestors that stuck out for wearing the same jacket with a 'Dead Bat' emblem on it. It was obvious from their expressions and behavior that they weren't trying to hold onto the stakes to protect themselves and with that shared emblem it wasn't hard to tell what their true plan was either…

"Mavis" , her dad's voice pulled her back into the conversation, "You stay here and make sure none of the guests that might wake up start a panic, it's probably for the best if they don't learn about the mob- I mean, protest, at all. Frank, Wayne, Murray and Griffin will be here to help if needed and guys", he turned to his friends, "I mean it when I say don't let anyone else know, not even your wives or girlfriend, got it?"

"Got it!", Frank nodded, "If Eunice found out, the whole hotel would know anyways. I won't let that happen! .. Actually, she probably won't be up until later tonight anyways, she'd have my head if something disturbed her beauty sleep. Literally." He shrugged and relaxed a little in his seat.

"Good. Now Ericka, Johnny and me need to go talk about what we're going to say to those 'protestors'."

Mavis followed the three out of the room and stopped Drac in the hallway, "Dad, hold on! There's.. something, I…", she sighed before looking up at him, her eyes bright with worry, "Do you really think facing them is a good idea? I mean… What if they try and attack?"

Dracula motioned for Ericka and Johnny to go on into the library where they could discuss their plan and then turned to face Mavis fully, leaning down to her level with his hands comfortingly on her arms, "Hey now, there is no need to worry, honey bat, I will handle it. Everyone will be alright. I won't let them get close to the hotel and I won't let them lay a finger on either Johnny or Ericka."  
"What about you?.."  
"Me?", he sounded almost confused and surprised by this before remembering that Mavis had brought up the thought of possibly losing him just last night again, though the thought of losing him that she had right now was much more drastic and worrying. "Oh Mavy, there is no need to worry about me", he gently raised her chin up again when she tried to look away sadly, making her face him again, "I gave you a promise that you wouldn't lose me, you have my word on this. And it's not like this is my first time facing an angry mob, it's just the first time without torches or pitchforks", he gave her an optimistic smile, "It's like Johnny said, this is the 21st century and people have changed. I'm sure they will be a lot more reasonable to talk to than any of the angry mobs I've faced in the past, especially with Ericka and Johnny on my side. Trust me, mouse."

"I do trust you, dad.. It's just those protestors I don't trust. They could have stakes."  
"And the mobs in the past had silver swords or crossbows loaded with stakes at times. It will be fine. Don't underestimate your old man. I want to settle this peacefully, but that doesn't mean that I would just stand there if someone tried to stake me."

"I know… Just be careful, ok? I don't think I'll be able to stop worrying until you're back."  
At that Drac gave a small cackle, "Now you know how I felt when you were away on Hawaii." He gave her a short squeeze before straightening up and after exchanging one more smile with Mavis he was off to meet up with Ericka and Johnathan in the library.


	4. Chapter 4 - Facing the mob

Mavis was still worried by the time she watched her dad and the two humans drive off in the hearse. She couldn't understand why she was feeling so anxious about this, she knew her father could take care of himself, she knew he could protect Johnny and Ericka if necessary as well and she knew that he has handled worse situations in the past. So why couldn't she shake this feeling of dread?

It made her wish that she had done more to keep her father from going. Maybe she should have gone in his stead. She could have tricked him into going somewhere else where there were no angry humans waiting, but instead a group of zombies to keep him distracted and save.

… Wait.

Mavis shook her head and sighed, "I really am like my dad, aren't I?..." Maybe worrying too much is just another part of adulthood, she added in thought.

When she walked back inside and took off her sun-hat, Mavis found Frank, Murray, Wayne and Griffin setting up a notebook and pushing a few seats together in the lobby.

"Hey, Mavis!", called Murray, "We're gonna follow the news report to see how things'll go with that protest. Wanna join?"

"Sure"

They weren't the only ones planning to watch the protest from afar. All the way up in his room Abraham watched through his window as the hearse drove off. Seeing Dracula depart with his Ericka and that young man was enough to let him know that they were heading right towards the mob, as Dracula was never one to run away without knocking his enemy down first. He knew this first hand.

Rolling back over to his computer, Van Helsing closed the social media pages where he had been anonymously posting 'proof' about the monsters' evilness for the past couple days and opened the news livestream instead. It was about to start.

Oh how he hoped that he'd stirred up enough hate for someone to slay the vampire.

Dracula took a deep breath as he parked the hearse just outside the village, "Alright, we're here."

"Uhm", Johnny piped up from the back, leaning forward between Drac and Ericka, "so.. did either of you think of a way to prove you're not controlling anyone yet? Because I still got nothing…"

"Again, we'll have to try and keep the topic away from that. There's no way to prove that, I could at most try and hypnotize them into believing us, but that would take a while and be kind of counterproductive.."

"No one's hypnotizing anyone here", the woman in white interjected, "if you hypnotize these guys, others will just get angry in their stead. In fact, no magic powers at all, alright? Not unless absolutely necessary. They should know that you've come to speak to them on their level."

Drac nodded, "Alright, no powers, got it."

Johnny leaned between them again and pointed ahead, "I think the march is about to start. They're lining up at the gate."

"Time to go", with that Drac opened up a black, sun-proof umbrella with little red bats all over -a gift Mavis and Johnny had gotten him a few years ago- and got out of the hearse, followed by his human companions.

When the news report finally started, Dracula, Ericka and Johnathan were already standing in front of the crowd, all gesturing and asking the shouting and complaining people to please quiet down and hear them out. By the time they finally calmed down enough to let the three speak, a news reporter had already explained the situation to the camera and was on their way with the cameraman to get closer so they could record what Dracula had to say.

"Thank you", was the first thing Drac said once the protestors gave him a chance to speak, "Now, I have heard that you are all angry at me, I know about the accusations against me and my kind and I wish to settle these problems with you all peacefully, right here, if that is possible."

Mavis and Drac's friends watched as a few police officers moved in front of the crowd while Dracula spoke. The officers were making sure that no one tried to storm ahead and the crowd would stay in line where it was.

Once Drac finished the group got louder again, shouting about not listening to a monster and that him wanting to settle anything peacefully was a joke.

That's when Johnny moved up and began to speak, he introduced himself to the protestors as the guy who'd discovered the monsters and brought them back into the light. Literally, as he pointed out at this point that he'd brought Dracula out into the sunlight, to try and lighten the mood.

He told about how he met each monster, emphasizing on Dracula's part, how he'd never hurt him and how he learned that Dracula drinks blood substitutes only.

"Has he ever tried to hypnotize you?", someone shouted from the crowd.

"Uuh, well.. You see, here's the thing.", Johnathan explained, "Dracula –or any vampire for that matter- can't hypnotize someone with contact lenses, which I have."

"So he HAS tried to hypnotize you?"

Sucking air in through his teeth, he regrettably admitted, "Yes, but-" He never got to finish as the crowd began yelling again, some shaking their signs angrily while others threw paper cups or small stones. "He only tried to protect his friends!", Johnny tried, but no one heard him.

This time it was the police that managed to get the people to settle down again.

Johnathan stepped back again, feeling as though he'd messed up enough for now and rubbing the back of his neck.

Seeing Johnny step back, Ericka stepped forth and started to explain her own story to the crowd.

Drac halfway turned around to her, surprised at just how much she was willing to tell these strangers. She told them about Abraham, about how she was raised by him to hate monsters and how she had tried to kill Dracula until she saw him for the great family father and person that he really was, until he had saved her life and until she'd zinged.

Again, at the mention of the zing, the crowd uproared.

From one side of the crowd the vampire managed to make out some people claiming that zing was merely another word for hypnotized. He turned towards the source and got a few steps closer to be heard better as he tried to explain through the noise what zing really was, that it was love at first sight, but they wouldn't listen, only shouting against him. Drac raised his free hand and gestured for them to please calm down and hear him out, when he caught another shout from the left.

"I'll break her out of that spell!"

Ericka could only let out a yelp when she suddenly saw some big man running at her, holding his protest sign like a bat.

It was all too familiar.

An angry mob of humans.

Dracula trying to calm them down peacefully.

A cry from his zing as someone made it past him.

 _"MARTHA!"_

Without a word Dracula spun around and ran over to the man and Ericka.

He couldn't lose her.

Not again.

He tried to get to Ericka, get in front of her, protect her, but when he tried to pass by the man, he had already swung his sign and hit her in the head.

His heart ached, like a sword piercing his chest, as he saw Ericka fall. She had been too surprised to dodge or block the attack.

'It's alright', he thought, trying to calm the pain in his chest, 'she's moving, she's alright. She's looking up at me…' But why was she looking so shocked?  
"DRAC!", he heard Johnny cry and run over, just as his legs gave out beneath him.

Why was the ache still there? It was everywhere. It hurt so bad…

Looking down, he spotted the reason. The pole of the sign was sticking out of his chest. Growing dizzy he also noticed the pain all over coming from the burn of the sun. 'Must've dropped my umbrella…' The world spun and then turned to black.


	5. Chapter 5 - At Stake

**Chapter 5: At Stake**

"DAD! NO!", Mavis cried out as she saw the scene on the computer screen.

A big man had run at Ericka to hit her in the head with his sign. Dracula had followed and tried to pass the man, but during the downswing the signs pointed pole dug itself into Drac's chest just like a stake and the vampire dropped to the ground.

"DAD! I-I have to get to him! I have to see him!", Mavis continued to cry and turned into a bat, ready to fly straight out into the sun.

"Woah! Hey no! Wait!" Frank, Murray and Griffin got over their shock in time and grabbed at her to stop her from going out and burning herself in her hysteria.

"You can't just fly out in the sun like that!", Frank argued, trying to hold onto her tight without pinching her with his claws.

"Uuh, hehe", Murray gave a small, nervous laugh, holding onto both of Mavis's little bat feet and hanging in the air from her strength, "I know! W-why don't we just get back to watching the stream? I-I'm sure Drac's fine and will just get up any moment now!"

"Seriously, Murray?!", Griffin hushed tensely from beside him, also hanging in the air, "That was a friggin STAKE to the HEART!"

"JUST LET ME BE IN DENIAL!", Murray cried in response, kicking his legs in the air.

Unable to keep airborne any longer, Mavis drops to the ground, changing back and pulling all three monsters holding onto her down with her with a collective "Oof!"

The young vampire opened her mouth as if to say something, to tell them to let her go, but instead another sound escaped. A sob, then a sniff and soon she was merely a crying mess.

Frank, holding back his own tears, gently scooped her up into a comforting hug.

Murray could feel himself lose the battle against his own tears when Griffin suddenly clasped onto him, bawling his eyes out against Murray's bandages.

Wayne, who'd still been too shocked by the entire situation to leave his seat, couldn't take it anymore once he heard everyone else cry, letting out a row of sad howls that were sure to wake the whole hotel.

While everyone was mourning down in the lobby, Van Helsing in his room was celebrating, the only thing they all had in common now was that no one was paying attention to the news report anymore.

The man whose protest sign was now sticking out of Dracula's chest immediately got arrested, despite proclaiming over and over again that it was an accident, that he hadn't meant to hurt anyone.

As soon as Johnny had reached the vampire, he'd dropped to his knees and tried his best to wake him, "DRAC! Drac, no! C'mon, man, you can't go like this! Wake up, please! Drac!"

When he noticed Ericka getting up behind him, Johnny turned towards her, desperate for some hope, "He's alright, right? I mean, don't vampires like, turn to dust if they die? He's gotta be fine.."

Ericka's expression was none of hope or comfort though, instead showing a mix of shock, fear and devastation. Slowly, she shook her head, "I-I don't know… My great grandfather's never actually managed to get one… Drac…" She covered her mouth for a moment and blinked away tears before sinking down on the other side of the vampire and wrapping her arms around his shoulders, sniffling, "Oh Drac.. why did you do that?..." She stroked across his cheek and neck with one hand and as this still gave her no sign that he was still with them, she finally let the tears fall.

Watching Ericka cry over Dracula's body made Johnathan's heart sink, before it came back up filled with anger at the people who caused this. He stood and balled his fists, turning back to the crowd which had long gone silent save for a bunch of quiet whispers.

"IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED?!", he yelled with raw emotion, "TO TAKE AWAY MY FRIEND?! HE WAS MY WIVES DAD! MY SON'S VAMPA! ERICKA'S ZING!"

Some jerk within the crowd still had the nerve to call back that Ericka was hypnotized.

"SHE NEVER WAS, FOR FUCKS SAKE! IF SHE HAD BEEN, THE SPELL WOULD BE BROKEN BY NOW, YOU DUMBASSES! DOES SHE LOOK LIKE SOMEONE WHO'D BEEN FORCED TO LOVE DRAC? NO! BECAUSE HER FEELINGS ARE REAL, ALWAYS HAVE BEEN! NOW SHUT UP, GO HOME AND THINK BEFORE YOU HATE SOMEONE YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW NEXT TIME!"

Although this didn't sent the whole protest group away, a bunch of people actually lowered their signs and walked away, then a few others followed and then some more, slowly, very slowly, the group grew smaller and smaller.

Johnny huffed, he couldn't remember ever having let out this much anger before. Usually he was such a chill guy, not even getting agitated if a roommate threw a flower pot at him or if someone literally tried to eat him, but this was way different from any of his past experiences. They hadn't hurt him in person, instead they hurt his entire family by taking an important part of it away. Perhaps they hadn't planned on actually killing Dracula, but the fact that their messages and hate even suggested hurting the vampire and that it all actually lead to his demise was more than enough for them to be guilty.

Now that his outburst was over and he'd gotten his message across, Johnny calmed down, his anger again replaced by sadness. He turned to look back over at Ericka and Drac's body. It was sickening to see the sign still sticking out of his chest, especially with the horrible irony that the sign depicted a staked bat next to the words "FREE ERICKA VAN HELSING". Looking back down from the sign he realized that wasn't even the worst part. Drac had been lying in the sun this whole time, slowly burning up and smoking, his skin was completely red and blistered at places and his clothes already had little flames dancing across, burning down the material.

Looking around, Johnny quickly spotted the dropped umbrella and brought it over to shield as much of the vampire's body as possible from the sun. Even if he was dead, he didn't want to see his friend burn to ashes.

Ericka looked up when she noticed the shade, receiving a short, small, sad smile from the redhead. She looked back at the sign, seeing the picture and words on it made her nauseous, that thing shouldn't be anywhere near her zing!

Determined, the woman stood and grabbed the sign with both hands, carefully using one foot to keep Drac's body down as she yanked the wood out of his chest.

"Hng"

She blinked. Had she just imagined that?

Looking down at Drac's face intensely, she couldn't see any sign of life… But there was something else that made her eyes widen.

"His skin.. He's healing!"


	6. Chapter 6 - Wake the Dead

**Chapter 6: Wake The Dead**

"He is?!", Johnny dropped the umbrella in excited surprise, quickly realizing his mistake and scrambling to pick it up again. Making sure to keep the shadow on Drac's body, he leaned down a little to see it for himself.

It was very faint, but noticeable if you focused on it. Slowly, the blistered red skin of the count started to heal. For a human, it healed incredibly fast, but for the vampire it was happening way too slow.

"Drac?", Johnny tried carefully hopeful, still leaning over the count, "Are you ok? Can you hear me?"

No response.

Ericka tossed the sign aside and kneeled back down next to her zing, holding a hand over his lightly opened mouth before moving it to feel along his neck, letting out a somewhat frustrated sigh, "I can't- How am I supposed to check for his vitals? There's no breath or heartbeat and he's as cold as always!..."

"There should be one", Johnny started to explain, not taking his eyes off Dracula, "A heartbeat, I mean. The breathing's only really there if they're awake, since they don't actually need that, but there's always a really slow heartbeat."

"How do you know?", it still surprised Ericka whenever someone showed more knowledge about monsters than her great grandfather had. It shouldn't really surprise her, especially since that someone was usually Johnny.

"I've lived with Mavis for almost fourteen years now, you pick up on that stuff pretty quick once you start sharing a bed. Oh crap!", His eyes went wide, "Mavis! She's gonna freak out if we bring Drac back like this, we gotta get him to wake up!"

"We don't even know yet if we can, Johnny..", Ericka looked down at Drac with sad eyes, "For all we know this is it… We don't know what it looks like if a vampire..", she took a moment to swallow down a sob that threatened to escape, "actually dies… Y-you said there should be a faint heartbeat, but I can't find any heartbeat."

"So what do you suggest we do, huh? The way I see it we've got three options. One, leave Drac to roast in the sun – I'm obviously not letting that happen though", he pointed at the umbrella with his free hand, "Two, we take Drac back to the hotel like this and unleash the fury of my heartbroken wife upon the world. Or three, we try anything we can to wake him up before Mavis ever even finds out about this!"

"And how do we wake him? So far he isn't responding to calling, shaking or pain…"

"Uhm.. try kissing him, maybe? I know it's old school and fairy-tale-ish, but who knows? Maybe that actually works on monsters."

The suggestion sounded stupid to Ericka and she didn't want to get her hopes up too much that her zing could still be with them, out of fear that those hopes would only get crushed in the end, but at the same time she was willing to take any chance she could to get him back. So she didn't contemplate for long before taking the vampire's head into her hands, leaning down and kissing him deeply on the lips.

No response.

Ericka had to cover her mouth to stop the sobs threatening to come out again. There goes another fraction of hope.

"… Got a bucket of water?", Johnny awkwardly tried to suggest after a moment of watching tears run down the woman's face, "Oh! Or try to let your tears fall on him, I saw that working in a couple of movies, maybe that is a legit monster thing."

"No!", she cried at him, standing up, "I know you're just trying to help, Johnny, but… We're kind of out of our league here… I-if there is a way to save Dracula, we're not the ones to find it.. Neither of us has any experience with a vampire in this condition… We have to bring him back to the hotel, even if it means Mavis might kill us for letting this happen…"

Johnny shuddered, "I never even thought of that as a possibility, dang…", he stopped himself from actually getting scared though, shaking his head, "Nah, I trust Mavis, she's not gonna hurt us, we're all family! You included, Ericka."

"Well", the woman sighed, "I guess we will have to wait and see.. either way, it's the only way I can think of to maybe still help Dracula…" After a moment of watching her zing on the ground, still having little hope to perhaps see him move or his eyes to flutter open, Ericka picked up his limp body bridal style and walked back to the hearse with Johnny hurrying along holding the umbrella up to keep it between the vampire and the sun.

Mavis and the Drac-less Pack returned to look at the screen only when they'd heard Johnny's outburst.

"DOES SHE LOOK LIKE SOMEONE WHO'D BEEN FORCED TO LOVE DRAC? NO! BECAUSE HER FEELINGS ARE REAL, ALWAYS HAVE BEEN! NOW SHUT UP, GO HOME AND THINK BEFORE YOU HATE SOMEONE YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW NEXT TIME!", they heard Johnny yell over the crowd, which then slowly started to grow smaller as more and more people started to leave like the young man had told them to. They could see the anger and tension leave Johnathan only to be replaced by sadness, before he turned back around towards Ericka and Dracula's still staked and smoking body. That's where the news reporter decided to end the stream, seeing the protest as cancelled after this tragedy.

No one said anything for a few minutes, just looking at the screen in sad silence until Mavis stood up and without a word walked upstairs, heading towards her apartment.

The other four monsters watched her leave until she was out of sight before turning back to the computer.

Then Frank started to speak up, "I.. I can't believe he's gone… After all these centuries…"

"All those mobs, stakes, silver and Van Helsing's fancy weapons and the one thing that gets him", Griffin choked out, his voice already sore from his earlier crying, "is a GODDAMN SIGN POST!" He began to sob again.

"HEY! WHAT'S THAT DAMN SWEARING, SHOUTING AND HOWLING ABOUT?", Eunice yelled from the stairs, causing Wanda, who was standing next to her, to cringe away from the noise, "SOME OF US ARE TRYING TO GET THEIR BEAUTY SLEEP, YOU KNOW! WHAT ARE YOU GUYS EVEN DOING UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY?"

As soon as Wanda reached the bottom of the stairs she headed straight towards Wayne, "Honey, what's wrong? I had to plug the kids' ears with cotton so they wouldn't wake from your howling and start anything.."

"Wanda.. It's Drac.. He-!", before Wayne could finish explaining, Murray held his snout shut and continued, "He, uhm.. went out to get something.. for the wedding! Yeah, heh, that's all! You know how Wolfie gets sometimes, heh, all emotional just because a pal goes out for some errand without telling him goodbye first, heh heh…"

Now Eunice was standing with them as well, "THAT DOESN'T EXPLAIN WHY ANY OF YOU ARE DOWN HERE THOUGH AND WHY WOULD DRAC GO OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY?"

"Oh that, uhm..", Frank took over, "We just.. wanted to..", he glanced down at the computer, "to watch something together! Yes, some.. human livestream… and y'know, since most humans are up during the day.. that's when the stream was going on and we didn't want to miss it." He ended on a very fake smile.

"AND DRAC WENT OUT IN THE SUNLIGHT WHILE YOU GUYS WATCHED SOME STREAM?"

"Yupp!", Murray shot out, finally letting go of Wayne's snout before correcting himself, "I mean.. Drac left after the stream, he watched with us, it was.. uhm.. some type of monster documentary? And we just wanted to check if they got their facts right! So.. yeah, then Drac left to get something from a human store for the wedding, you know those are only open in the day too!"

"YOU LET HIM GO OUT IN THE SUN ALONE?! EVEN THOUGH YOU WERE ALREADY SITTING DOWN HERE TOGETHER?!", Eunice exclaimed, glaring at Frank.

"NO no, of course not!", Frank tried to explain to calm his wife down, "He didn't go alone, he.. had- has Ericka with him! A-and Johnny too? Yeah, because.. it was something about the music for the wedding? I think? I didn't quite catch it" With that he turned to look elsewhere, playing innocent.

"…", After a moment longer Eunice let out a very annoyed sigh, "WHATEVER, JUST BE QUIET NOW, ALRIGHT? IF YOU WAKE ME ONE MORE TIME TODAY, YOU'RE SLEEPING STREWN ACROSS THE HOTEL, FRANK!" With that Frankenstein's wife turned and headed back upstairs to her room.

Wanda stayed behind for the moment, turning back to Wayne, "Are you sure everything's alright, dear? You don't usually howl like that unless something bad happened…"  
Wayne sighed before deciding to play along with the others, "It's nothing, that 'monster documentary' we watched just showed a howling wolf and I couldn't help myself, that's all.. I'm sorry I woke you."

"Ok… Will you come back to bed?"

"Eh, in a bit. We're.. waiting for Drac to come back… I'll be quiet when I come to bed later", Wayne gives her a small peck on the snout, "go ahead and go back to sleep."

"Alright", with that Wanda headed back upstairs as well.

As soon as Wanda was gone, Griffin broke his silence with another row of sobs, crying, "Drac w-won't come back though…"

"Aw come on, man", Murray complained, whimpering and sniffing, "If you keep doing that, I'll just start crying again, too!.."

"Guys, please!" , Wayne got between them, petting their backs comfortingly, "You're gonna make me howl again!..."

Scooping all three of them up, Frank gave his friends a comforting hug, although it ended up more bone-crushing than comforting, "No more crying now! We've gotta stay strong!", he whimpered.


	7. Chapter 7 - Return To The Hotel

**Chapter 7: Return To The Hotel**

The first thing Mavis did upon reaching her apartment was to check on Dennis in his room. The little half-vampire was still soundly asleep. He had no idea that he'd just lost his papa Drac…

Closing the door quietly she went to her and Johnny's bedroom, where she could let her emotions out without waking her son. Just to be sure, she buried her face in a pillow as she bawled her eyes out.

Her dad, her only parent for over 130 years, was dead.

The man who'd taught her everything, who'd loved and protected her her entire life. Staked by some random human, on accident! Just because her father had been careless in trying to protect someone…

Not 'someone', it wasn't just anyone, Mavis realized, it was his zing. Of course her father had been careless about his own safety, he saw his zing in danger, he'd already lost her mom, of course he wouldn't risk losing Ericka.

Mavis could feel anger mix in with her grief. She wasn't sure who she was angry at. Was it Ericka for being responsible for her dad getting in that situation in the first place? It's not like she could do anything about it… Was it her dad for breaking his promise that she'd never lose him? It's not like he wanted to leave her… Was it herself for not stopping her father from going even though her feelings had told her to do so? ... Maybe…

She was also angry at the humans, the one that accidentally staked her father, the ones protesting and making signs showing her dad dead, the ones bringing the protest together and especially the one that supposedly posted 'proof' of her dad mind controlling Ericka to make the protestors want to march up to the hotel in the first place!

How could anyone have proof of that anyways? Especially since it isn't true at all… She'd have to check the posts later herself and maybe figure out who started all this in the first place, if that's possible. Whoever it was couldn't be left to start another mob after another monster someday.

But her research had to wait, for now she had to mourn her loss.

Meanwhile the culprit up in his room just finished up his little victory celebration and got back to his computer to check the comments and posts about the protest since the stream itself was already over.

Yupp, everything stated that the famous Count Dracula got staked by accident and was not showing any signs of getting up again.

Abraham had to admit, it was a little frustrating that this would be how he got rid of Dracula after all these years. Several generations of Van Helsings couldn't take him down, he himself chased the vampire for almost two whole centuries, using every kind of weapon he could come up with. Not even the ultimate weapon of destruction from Atlantis had worked, simply because Dracula had had two humans helping him! One of which was his very own great granddaughter…

Looking back at that it actually made him feel better to know that these exact same two humans that saved him and every other monster in Atlantis had been with Dracula at the protest and still been unable to keep him from getting staked in that very moment. The thought made him gleeful.

What mattered the most was that the infamous vampire was finally dead and that must mean that his dear Ericka was now free of his spell as well. They could finally continue the Van Helsing family legacy of ridding the world of all the monsters and with their main protector out of the way, that was going to be a blast.

Hopefully Ericka would come back to him soon.

Ericka was currently on her way back, yes, but not to return to her great grandfather. She was sitting in the back of the hearse with Dracula's head resting on her lap, making sure the limp vampire wouldn't slip off the seat while Johnathan drove them back to the hotel.

With Johnny at the wheel the ride seemed to drag on forever, at least compared to any of the monsters' driving styles, since he couldn't go as crazily fast without fearing that he'd crash into a tree in the haunted forest.

"Any change yet?", the young man asked without taking his eyes off the forest road.

"No, I still can't find his heartbeat either.. though that might be due to the bumpy ride."

"Sorry, can't really do anything against that. Drac's refused to let us build an actual road through the forest, he said it's enough that he's keeping the secret passage open.."

"There was a secret passage?", the woman tried to keep the conversation going, preferring that over the dead silence that reigned for the majority of the ride.  
"Oh yeah, you know, that little tunnel bit before the bridge? That used to close up so it'd look like normal forest ground.", Johnny could just make out the entrance to that tunnel up ahead as he finished, "Ah, there it is, see? We're almost at the hotel!"

"If it's possible to close that hole, why didn't we just do that to keep the protest away? We didn't have to go!", angry tears started to form in Ericka's eyes and she looked down at the seat beside her, avoiding to look at Drac's unmoving face.

"I don't think that would've helped, there's signs here to show where the entrance is, see?", Johnathan explained while driving down into the tunnel, "If they couldn't get through they would've just collected here and gotten angrier for being locked out. They coulda turned their march into an occupy movement or something."

"It doesn't matter what they call it, either way it's always the same thing.. They're still just an angry mob…"

Johnny chanced a small glance back at Ericka and Drac before sighing, "Can't argue with that.."

Soon enough the redhead was able to park by the hotel's entrance and got the umbrella ready. Drac's body, despite having been shaded by the hearse's roof for the entire trip back, was still completely reddened and a few blisters were still strewn across his skin, though the majority of them had healed. If he were healing at his normal rate, Drac wouldn't have shown any damage anymore five minutes into the ride, tops.

Not to mention the hole in his chest was still there as well… While the reminder of his clothing had mostly fixed itself from the sun damage –however that works neither human understood yet-, the hole still looked as fresh as when Ericka had removed the sign.

They really hoped the other monsters could help…

In the lobby, Drac's Pack, minus Drac, had finally managed to calm down again and wanted to call it a day, slowly heading up the stairs before Wayne's ears piqued up. He heard a car- no, the hearse outside! He turned to look towards the entrance.

Murray and Griffin, having been walking behind the wolfman, noticed this and stopped, turning as well.

"Frankie, hold on, buddy!", Murray called after him when he saw that Frank hadn't noticed everyone stopping and then the mummy was hurrying back down the stairs just as their two human friends entered, Ericka carrying Drac again while Johnny closed the umbrella.

Before Ericka had the chance to say anything, Murray nearly tackled them both, "Drac! Please be undead! C'mon buddy, ya gotta get up!" He even shook the vampire in the woman's grip for a moment, but when that didn't get any reaction, the bandages under his eyes started to soak with tears again so he turned away, "Waaah, I just stopped!..."

Johnathan stepped towards the other three that had just come back down the stairs, "I.. I'm sorry, guys.. Drac, he.."

"We saw", Griffin rasped sadly.

"Wait, you saw?!"

Frank nodded, "We watched a news livestream.. We saw everything… Mavis did too.."  
Johnny's eyes widened, "Mavis saw?! Oh man.. Just.. how much did you guys see?"

"Everything until.. the staking.. The stream ended after you yelled at the crowd though. Way to go with that speech, Johnny.", Wayne explained and gave the young man a pat on the back.

"Wait, so you guys didn't catch Drac healing?"

"Healing?!", Frank exclaimed hopefully until he looked over at the limp count in Ericka's arms, "But.. he's still all burned up?..."

"Yeah, but not as bad as it was before. He's healing super slow right now, but it's happening. We have no idea if that'd happen if he was actually dead or not, so we need someone who knows. Maybe he can still be helped.", Johnny gave them a small yet incredibly hopeful smile.

A moment of stunned silence passed before Frank found his voice again, "I-I'll go get a doctor!", with that he rushed off.

"Great! And I'll go check on Mavis!", Johnny figured if anyone could reach her in a time like this, it'd be her zing and husband.. He really hoped she wouldn't accidentally lash out with her powers, this was worse than anything she'd gone through so far after all, he had no idea how Mavis was reacting to the apparent loss of her father. But, he swore to himself, no matter how, he'd stay with her and try to comfort her if possible.


	8. Chapter 8 - Heart

**Chapter 8: Heart**

"Mavis?", Johnathan lightly knocked on the door of their shared room once he reached it and heard sobbing from the other side, "May I come in?.."

She didn't answer him. That's better than angry hissing or a demonic screech at least..

"I'm coming in now, ok?..", he tried again before slowly opening the door and peeking in, spotting Mavis face-down on the bed, hugging a pillow to her face, "Honey?"

Still she didn't respond so Johnny made his way over to sit beside her and lay a comforting hand on her back. When the touch didn't cause her to lash out in vampiric fury, he felt save enough to talk again, "Mavy, I'm sorry for what happened.. I'm sorry you had to see that…"

"It's not your fault, Johnny", she brought out between sobs, "I-I heard what you said", sniff, "and I'm glad you tried to defend him.. 's just.. I.. I can't believe he's gone!" She started to bawl again, pressing her face against the pillow.

Johnny waited a moment, sad to see his zing so hurt, but knowing she had to get it out before she'd be able to take in the.. hopefully.. good news.

"Mavis? There's something I have to tell you.. Something that wasn't in that report.. It's..", he thought about how to say it without giving her too much possibly false hope, "Uhm.. We don't know yet what it means, but… Although it looks like he's gone, he's somehow.. still healing, slowly?.."

That got Mavis to slow to mere sniffing and she lifted her head off the pillow to look up at her husband, "Wh-what?.."  
Johnny nodded, "He got some sunburns, but they're healing, it's really slow and the..", he grabbed his shirt above his heart, " 'spot', doesn't look like it's healing yet, but.. you know… I don't know everything about vampires yet so I have no idea if that's normal or not."

Mavis shook her head lightly, "It's not", another sniff and she started to smile a little, her expression lighting up gradually, "It's not! H-he's not dead!"

Ericka and the other monsters had already brought Drac to the med bay where Doctor Ghoul was still checking on the count by the time Mavis hurried into the room at vampire speed, dragging Johnny along.

"How is he?", the young mother immediately asked.

"Still not awake and still no heartbeat…", Ericka informed her in a depressed tone, scared that her zing might be lost after all.

Mavis turned to comfort her, "Ericka, don't worry, as long as he's healing he can't die. He'll be fine, his body's already fixing itself."

"Not exactly", It was the Doctor speaking up now that he'd looked closer at the 'healing' skin, "The healing process seems to have stopped a couple minutes ago", he swiped his gloved finger under the hole in Dracula's chest, "Presumably the moment he ran out of blood."

"WHAT?!", Mavis cried, starting to freak out again, "NO NO! I just got here! You're telling me he's gone anyways?!"

"Maybe, maybe not", while talking, Doctor Ghoul got a couple of bags filled with blood from the medical fridge and started to hook them up to the vampire.  
"Wait so.. CAN you save him or not?", Johnny exclaimed, slumping over, "This is a huge emotional strain for us all, you know!"

"That depends on the damage", the doc explained, hooking up the last bloodbag before disinfecting his gloved hands.

Frank raised an eyebrow, "The damage?"

"Exactly", the doctor jumped up onto the operating table, leaning over Dracula's limp body, "This damage", with that he plunged his arm straight into the hole, grabbed the counts heart and pulled it straight out of his chest!

Everyone jumped and yelped at the sight. There was even a small thud as Griffin fainted and fell over.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!", Mavis yelled at the doctor while Ericka turned to the wall, trying not to throw up, "HASN'T HIS HEART SUFFERED ENOUGH?!" She hissed, her eyes glowing red and her fangs and ears growing longer and pointer in her fury.

Doctor Ghoul didn't seem scared at all, he just pointed at the heart in his hand and spoke, "How else am I supposed to assess and fix the damage?"

"The damage..", Johnny repeated, looking at Drac's heart despite the nausea, seeing what he meant and letting out an, "Oh!"

There was the mentioned damage.

The thing that kept Drac from waking up and healing properly.

A splinter.

"It appears that the stake merely grazed the count's heart, leaving this splinter behind which acted as a teeny tiny stake on its own and caused his heart to stop", he plucked the splinter from the heart as he spoke, "Since his heart stopped, he couldn't regain consciousness and his healing was partially inhibited, leaving this hole", he gestured at the hole in Drac's chest before reaching in to put the heart back in place while he continued to explain, "wide open for his body to lose all its blood. Without the blood, the healing stopped and he was technically dead. Now, if there had been a tear or hole in the heart or pretty much anything worse than this splinter, it'd be impossible for his body to pick up the healing process again, even with the blood transfusion I'm giving him."

"But.. it IS enough now, right?", Johnny fished.

The doctor pulled his arm back out, "I sure hope so. I've treated vampires before and I've treated splintered hearts before, but never a splintered heart on a vampire. In theory.. eh", he shrugged, "It might be a hopeless case. All we can do for now is keep pumping blood into him and hope it hasn't been too long yet for his healing to shut off completely."

"TOO LONG?!", Murray cried, "You said yourself it HAS shut off a couple minutes ago!"

"I didn't say completely", the ghoul explained, "The noticeable healing has stopped a couple minutes ago, yes, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's actually stopped completely. I can't tell if it's stopped fully yet or not so we'll just have to wait and see."

Mavis let out an inhuman growl and got right in the doctor's face, hissing quietly, "If my dad dies, I'll kill you."  
"Ma'am, I'm doing the best I can."

"It's for keeping us in suspense like that!"

"Oh… fair enough."

Suddenly a ringing phone was heard through the entire room.

"Oh crap!", Ericka exclaimed, still a little nauseous, scrambling to get her phone out of her pocket, "I'm so sorry, I forgot I even got that with me.." She hurried out of the room into the hallway once she saw that it was her great grandfather calling and answered as soon as she closed the door behind her.

"Hello?"

"Ericka, dear!", The old man exclaimed from the other end of the line, acting innocent just in case some monster was listening in, "What's going on, I saw you outside by that hearse, carrying Dracula. Did something happen? Where are you?"

"O-oh! Oh, great grandpa", she slumped, "Dracula, he.. There was a protest and we tried to settle it peacefully, but there was an accident! Dracula's been staked! We're in the med bay with him right now and the doctor's doing his best to save him, b-but it might be too late!", she choked up a little and sobbed at that last part, feeling her tears fall again and covering her mouth to stop the sobs.

"They what?!"

"S-staked him… A-apparently they missed his heart though, there was only a splinter stopping it.. He's getting blood transfusions right now and we're waiting for him to heal… i-if he still can..", she sniffed again, "My zing…"

"…"

"Grampa?"

"I'm still here… I'm sorry to hear that, Ericka. Have you been up the whole night AND day?"  
"Y-yes.. we all have, pretty much…", Ericka tried her best to calm her sniffling.  
"You should get some rest, all of you. The transfusions will take a while anyways, I'm sure. It might even be morning again by the time you get any results. I'd hate for you to stay up and torture yourself that long."

"O-ok.. that sounds good…", she sniffed again before ending the call and heading back into the room to talk to the others.


	9. Chapter 9 - Back in Action

**Chapter 9: Back in Action**

"Hello?"

"Ericka, dear!", Abraham exclaimed once Ericka picked up, acting innocent just in case some monster was listening in, "What's going on, I saw you outside by that hearse, carrying Dracula. Did something happen? Where are you?"

"O-oh! Oh, great grandpa.. Dracula, he.. There was a protest and we tried to settle it peacefully, but there was an accident! Dracula's been staked!", Van Helsing almost chuckled in glee hearing this, "We're in the med bay with him right now and the doctor's doing his best to save him, b-but it might be too late!", he heard her choke up a little and sob.

"They what?!", He exclaimed in disbelief. They couldn't save Dracula! He's supposed to be dead!

"S-staked him…", she replied, missing the point, "A-apparently they missed his heart though, there was only a splinter stopping it.. He's getting blood transfusions right now and we're waiting for him to heal… i-if he still can..", she sniffed again, "My zing…"

"…", Abraham was at a loss for words. Not only did the stake miss, making it possible for Dracula to have survived, but his spell over Ericka was also still not broken!

"Grampa?"

"I'm still here… I'm sorry to hear that, Ericka. Have you been up the whole night AND day?"  
"Y-yes.. we all have, pretty much…" All. That means there's more people down there. No, not people, monsters. He had to get them to leave.  
"You should get some rest, all of you. The transfusions will take a while anyways, I'm sure. It might even be morning again by the time you get any results. I'd hate for you to stay up and torture yourself that long."

"O-ok.. that sounds good…", she sniffed again before ending the call.

Van Helsing put his phone back into its spot on his robotic body.

Crap.

If he didn't hurry to end it, Dracula might still live after all.

When Ericka came back into the room, Johnny and Frank were doing their best to calm Mavis down and comfort her. As soon as the vicious anger disappeared she was again reduced to a sobbing mess seeking comfort in her husband's arms.

Ericka still had tears in her eyes herself, but keeping her great grandfathers suggestion in mind she looked around.

She didn't even think it was possible until now, but yes, everyone had bags the size of dinner plates under their eyes, even the monsters.

"We should all go get some rest", the woman suggested.

"But-", Mavis started, but Doctor Ghoul interrupted her.

"That is an excellent idea. You've all been up all day and it's already evening soon. I will hook up a few more bags, they need about five hours to completely drain anyways, that gives you all at least some time to rest", he let out a yawn, "Same for me.."

"B-but what if he wakes up and needs help?", Mavis questioned.

The doctor just pointed at a call button by the table, "If he needs anything, that little button will let him call me."

"But.."

"It's ok, Mavis", Johnny gave her a little squeeze, still hugged around her, "Drac'll be fine, he just needs to soak up all that –hopefully-not-human- blood, 's all."

"Actually it is human", the doctor threw in, "100% legally obtained from blood donations. When treating vampires, nothing tops a couple gallons of real human blood."

".. Right"

"Anyways, getting some rest sounds good", Frank brought up and Murray yawned, "Agreed!"

"Yeah, I'm looking forward to a bed free of pups. I hope Wanda left me some space- !", Wayne yelped as he tripped over something he couldn't see.

Oh right, Griffin.

Frank carefully picked both Wayne and Griffin up with his pincers and headed for the door with Murray following behind, "Good day everyone. Please tell us as soon as Drac gets better, alright?"

"Yeah, we wanna come see him as soon as he wakes up", Murray grinned as he left, radiating the hope that Drac will in fact wake up, the only question being when, not if.

"Are you ready to go to bed, Mavy?", Johnny asked, stroking through her hair.

But Mavis just shook her head, "I'd like to stay a little longer.."

"Ok, we can stay a little longer", he finished on a huge yawn.

"It's ok, Johnny, you go upstairs to bed. Dennis will be wondering where we are if we're both gone when he wakes up", with that she gave him a goodnight peck on the lips and sent him off to bed.

"I'll stay a bit longer, too…", Ericka stated as she pulled up a chair beside the table so she could sit down and hold her zing's hand.

"Alright. I think I can trust the both of you to watch over him and call me if there's anything wrong. Good night, ladies", and thus the doctor left as well.

About an hour and a half later Abraham chanced it to take an elevator down to the med bay.

Carefully he sneaked his way along the hallway as quietly as he could, keeping his eyes and ears open for any sign that any of the monsters might still be around.

Checking the room windows one by one he soon found the one where Dracula rested.. with Ericka sitting right by him, holding his hand and sleeping.

Great.

He had to be extra quiet… but once he'd done the job, his dear great granddaughter would be free and thank him.

He slowly opened the door, thankful for the lack of a creak as he slipped into the room.

Squeak.

He froze. Not again, one of his wheels was squeaking!

He glanced over at Ericka. Still asleep.

Dracula? Still no sign of life. Good.

He didn't notice the bat hanging from a pipe on the ceiling, so he simply kept his eyes on Ericka and made his way over to the table extremely slow to quiet the squeaking as much as possible. On the way over to the table, he opened a little hatch on the side of his body and pulled out a little pocket stake.

This was it.

He was finally getting rid of that damn monster and he was going to have the pleasure of finishing it with his own two hands!

This time there was no way the count could simply wake up in time to catch him, oh no, he was out cold, possibly even dead already.

But possibly wasn't going to cut it, Abraham had to make sure.

No one would know, he'll just destroy the demon's heart, take the stake back to his room and burn it in his fireplace. They'll simply think that his wound was too great for Dracula to live after all.

It was perfect.

His wheels gave a last little squeak as he reached the table, causing the bat above head to stir and open its eyes.

Van Helsing lifted the stake and positioned it over Dracula's chest, raising his head up high so that he'd be able to see the heart inside the hole and not miss it.  
He had to get this right.

The tip of the stake was hovering mere millimeters above the heart.

Abraham grinned from ear to ear.

Now!

…

He froze. No, he got frozen, by vampire magic.

But who…?

The bat flapped its wings and flew around his head before flying out of the door he'd left ajar. He tried to follow it with his gaze without being able to move his head before his eyes landed on Dracula himself.

His eyes widened as much as the magic allowed.

Dracula's eyes were open and staring at him in a tired frown.

No. Not again.

Before Abraham could think to look away from the vampire's eyes, they started to glow in a pulsating red, hypnotizing him.

"You will stop… trying to have me staked… not by your own hand… or anyone elses…", he rasped out in a whisper, "You will get rid… of the stake you're holding… so no one will see it… and you will not… let anyone know… that you tried to kill me… again", he wanted to roll his eyes at that, but he had to keep them focused on Abraham's, which was getting hard enough as it was with his vision blurring again, "You will… Eri..cka…"

Drac lost consciousness before he could get out his last demand, which should have been for Abraham to accept that Ericka could love whoever she wanted.

His free hand, which he'd used to freeze the old man, grew limp again as well, releasing the magic.

Immediately Van Helsing put the stake back away into its hiding spot. He turned to leave, but stopped to look back at Ericka. He rolled over to a supply closet, took out a blanket and draped it over her shoulders before leaving.

Shortly after the robotman was gone, Mavis came into the room drinking a glass of blood beaters and sitting down on a chair opposite from Ericka.

She blinked when she saw the blanket, wondering where it'd come from. Looking down at her dad though, she smiled as she noticed that while nothing else changed, his free hand was in a different position.

'Silly dad', she thought, 'one coherent moment after almost dying and the first thing he does is take care of his zing.'

Mavis leaned down to give him a small kiss on the cheek and decided to make her way to bed, assured now that her dad would be fine.


	10. Chapter 10 - Life goes on

**Chapter 10: Life goes on**

Ericka woke to the sensation of someone holding her hand and rubbing it soothingly with their thumb.

Ugh, next came back and neck pains from having slept leaning over a table…

But the sight when she opened her eyes was worth any of that pain.

Dracula, her zing, was smiling up at her, lovingly rubbing her hand in his. The only reminder of last day's horror being the empty bags hooked up to him as Drac was completely healed and awake.

"Drac!", she beamed and leaned over to hug him tightly, causing the count to let out a little laugh and hug her back.

"I'm glad you're alright."  
"Idiot!", she glared at him for a moment before softening up and tightening the hug again, "I'm the one who should be saying that!"

"Ah, I'm sorry I frightened you, my darling", He excused himself with a little kiss.

Ericka pouted for a moment longer before letting it slip back into a loving smile.

"I think we should put that couple-coffin on our wedding wishlist", she finally said.

"What? But I thought you weren't comfortable with the thought of sleeping in a coffin?"

"I changed my mind", she gave him a small kiss back and stroked his cheek, "the thought of sleeping without you is worse." With that she snuggled up against him as well as she could from her position, simply enjoying how her head against his neck let her hear the slow, faint but definitely present heartbeat of her love.

As soon as the Doctor returned and unhooked the bags, releasing the count, the pair left to see if their family and friends were up yet.

"Drac!", they heard the moment they entered the lobby before the addressed vampire was scooped up into a bone-crushing bear hug by Frank. The rest of Drac's Pack soon followed, all excitedly talking over each other about how glad they are to see him back on his feet.

"Ah ha, yes, yes!", Drac smiled and patted Frank's arm as well as he could with his own arms being restrained by the hug, "It's good to be back, guys. I hope no one was too worried."  
"Well", Griffin spoke, "Ericka, Mavis and Johnny were devastated, but you know us, hehe. We're big tough monsters after all!"

Murray gave him a look, "You used me as a TISSUE, that's not what I call a big tough monster, man!" Griffin tried to shush him while Murray just went on and on about how Griffin was crying the most out of them all and how he even fainted in the med bay.

But none of that concerned Drac, "My poor Mavy Wavy", he spoke as Frank let him down, "I have to go talk to her right away!"

"Go Drac," Ericka patted him on the shoulder, "I'll be waiting for you down here."  
He gave her one more loving smile before hurrying up to Mavis' apartment at vampire speed, stopping abruptly in front of the door and knocking.

"Hello, papa Drac!", it was Dennis who opened the door.

From the casual greeting he guessed that his vampson didn't know what happened last day. That's good.

"Hello, my little Dennisovich!", he picked the boy up into a quick hug.

"You've been so busy, I haven't seen you in days, papa Drac! Can we go out for a fly?"

"Of course! But not right now, ok? I would like to talk with your parents for a bit."  
"Oh, ok! They're both still asleep though. It's the first time I've ever seen them sleep in!"

Drac gave a little laugh, "How lazy of them, huh? Why don't you take Tinkles out and go play for a bit? I'll go fly with you later", with that he sat his young vampson down again.

"Yeah, ok!", Dennis agreed excitedly before whistling to call, "Tinkles!"

The older vampire had to jump to the side to avoid getting run over by the giant puppy, whereas Dennis simply hopped up onto Tinkles' back and rode him out of the room, laughing in joy.

Dracula closed the door behind them and headed to Mavis' and Johnny's bedroom, knocking lightly before opening the door a crack.

They were actually both still asleep. Just when did they go to bed? Ah well…

He slipped into the room and practically slid across the floor without a sound, stopping by Mavis' bedside. After watching her sleep for a moment, he leaned down and woke his daughter with a peck on the forehead, "Rise and shine, my little blood orange."

Her eyes fluttered open a little before widening completely the moment she spotted Drac right in front of her.  
"Dad!", she exclaimed before throwing herself at him in a levitating hug, "You're ok!"

Dracula just smiled, happy to see his little girl this cheery, and hugged her back, "Of course, I am, my little devil chum, I told you I would be."

Hearing that, she looked him in the face with a serious frown, "No 'of course', dad! Not this time! That was an insanely close call, the doctor had no idea if he could even still save you!"

His smile disappeared, "Oh.. I-I'm sorry, my dear. I had no idea… I'm sorry I scared you like that…"

"It's ok, I know you just wanted to protect Ericka… Just promise me you'll be more careful?"

"I promise I'll be more careful", he wanted to sound as convincing and honest as possible although they both knew that he'd probably still go throwing himself in the way if someone he cared about was about to get hurt.

A deep yawn brought both their attentions over to Mavis' husband who'd just woken up.

"Aw man, what's-", Johnny cut himself off once he saw who Mavis was talking to, "DRAC!", he beamed and threw himself at the both of them, unfortunately not having levitation powers so he simply knocked into them with his entire weight and clung to them in a tight koala hug, "I can't tell ya how happy I am to see you! I love you, man! Please don't go running into any more stakes!"

"I'm not planning on it", Drac promised, getting one arm free to pat the messy orange hair of his son-in-law, "By the way, what happened to the mob?"

"The mob? Oh! The protest, yeah, they disbanded, I don't think they'll be coming back any time soon", Johnny explained while still wrapped around the two vampires.

Mavis smirked, "Don't be modest Johnny", then she looked back up at her dad, "Johnny gave them a piece of his mind. It's thanks to him that they left."  
"Really?", the count asked positively surprised, "Wow, well, in that case, thank you, Johnny, you saved the hotel!"

"Nah, it was nothing", he shrugged, "I just let loose, that's all."

"Are you guys going to keep this hug going all night or can I go check on Dennis now?", Mavis asked with humor in her voice.

Dracula ended the hug, letting Mavis go and Johnathan drop to the ground before explaining, "Dennisovich is fine, I just send him out to play with Tinkles. It would be great if he, my dad and the other guests didn't find out about what happened."

"We're not gonna tell", the young man sitting on the ground threw in, "but we dunno if anyone's gonna watch the midnight news. They're probably gonna recap about the protest."

The count sighed, "Well, if anyone does find out on their own, we'll have to explain it to them… But if news reach little Dennisovich we should at least leave out the part that I almost died."  
"Agreed", Mavi nodded, "I don't usually support your lies, dad, but knowing that he'd almost lost his grandpa would only hurt Dennis."

They had a moment of silent agreement before Johnny stood and broke the silence, "So, uh… since you're all healed, that means you don't need to rest up after all that, huh?"

"That's right, I will get back to wedding planning as soon as Ericka is ready to pick up on that as well. But first I promised Dennis that his vampa would go out for a fly with him. Mavis, would you like to join us?"

"Of course!", with that both vampires turned into bats and flew out of the room to go get Dennis.

Johnny could only watch them leave and sighed, "Man, I wish I could fly on my own…"

A little over two weeks later, Dracula and Ericka had the most perfect wedding either one could wish for.

They managed to balance each other's tastes and interests into the food and decorations perfectly and Ericka was wearing the most beautiful, sparkly spiderweb dress they had ever seen with a single golden hibiscus flower attached to her headwear.

Their wedding kiss was the most wonderful moment in Dracula's life since the birth of his daughter. And unlike with Mavis' and Johnathan's marriage, nothing and no one had interrupted it, even though someone had wanted to.

Mavis knew her dad had only interrupted their kiss because he had still been fighting his protective instinct to attack Johnny if he got too close. They had married not too long after returning from their trip so Drac hadn't had a lot of time to get used to seeing them kiss before him by the time of the marriage. Although she'd wished for more, she was happy that they could at least have the small kiss which they sealed their marriage with in the end. Mavis understood her father's feelings about that, but she wasn't the one feeling the protective anger rise when she saw Ericka and Dracula kiss on their wedding. No, that was someone else.

Drac remembered that the first time he woke that day it was to Abraham being about to end him off, he remembered that he hypnotized him to keep him from doing so and he remembered ordering him to let Ericka love whoever she wanted… right? He couldn't recall what exactly he managed to demand of the old man, but it was apparently enough to keep Van Helsing from killing him, not let anyone know that he'd tried to kill him and to let him allow his great granddaughter to marry him and that was enough for the vampire.

Although, while he didn't stop or interrupt the wedding, Van Helsing wished he could have with ever fiber and every screw of his body.

For now he would just watch and let them have their big day, but Abraham was going to get his chance someday.

After all, there are more ways to kill a vampire than staking.

The End


End file.
